The endurance aspect of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen came into play as much as ever at Watkins Glen International on Sunday, June 22.
Following the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event’s final caution with 10 minutes on the clock, race leader Earl Bamber had to pit with his car’s energy gauge about to hit zero just before the white flag waved.
Tom Blomqvist inherited the lead with a lap to go and crossed the finish line first with IMSA’s telemetry reading at 1% on the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura he co-drove with Colin Braun.
The drama-filled finish capped a race that featured a rainstorm in the first hour, temperatures near 90 degrees that helped the track dry quickly, and a final two hours that had been dominated by Bamber and the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen he co-drove with Jack Aitken and Frederik Vesti.
This is the first year IMSA is using “balance of performance” regulations in its Grand Touring Prototype and GTP Pro classes, with a significant penalty for cars that reach 0% energy readings.
Following the final caution, the 56-car event’s last restart came with just over three minutes remaining, enough for two laps of green-flag racing on the 3.4-mile road course.
“We were going to be able to go to the end regardless of the yellow,” Blomqvist said when asked about the car’s energy reading. “The yellow made things a little less stressful. I could basically push the last few laps if I wanted to.”
He credited the team’s strategy with playing a big role in the win.
“But also the car really came alive for me in those last couple of stints and enabled me to have such good pace with hitting such a big fuel target, fuel number,” Blomqvist added.
“It all kind of came together for us there at the end. It was a bit of an up-and-down race. We got towards the front, went back, and we had a few mishaps along the way. So it was great we were able to execute at the end and get the win.”
The triumph by Blomqvist and Braun in the top Grand Touring Prototype class was the first this season for the No. 60 Acura and second straight for Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian. Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly gave the team a win at the previous race at the Detroit Street Circuit.
For Braun, the victory came 19 years after a legal wrangle involving a deal between sponsor Philip Morris Tobacco and the track ended up keeping him out of the Six Hours of The Glen. At issue was Braun being only 17 at the time.
“This is a really cool racetrack. I love this place, I love the fan base,” Braun said. “I’ve been coming here for many years. Any time you can win at any IMSA race, it’s a pretty special day. But Watkins Glen is definitely an iconic one. I haven’t won this race overall, so that’s kind of neat.”
It was the 26th IMSA victory for Braun, and his second at Watkins Glen. Blomqvist secured his sixth IMSA win.
The No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing team of Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz finished second, 1.88 seconds behind the winners.
The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque placed third.
The No. 6 Penske Motorsport Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell placed fourth. The trio of Bamber, Aitken and Vesti ended up fifth.
Sunday’s other winners:
Mars, Heylen teamed for Pilot Challenge win
Luca Mars and Jan Heylen teamed to win Saturday’s LP Building Solutions 120, an IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series race at Watkins Glen.
It was the second victory of the season and fifth podium finish in five races for the RS1 drivers in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS.
Jenson Altzman and Chad McCumbee finished 0.447 of a second behind them in second place.
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Blomqvist and Braun have just enough to win Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen
Reporting by Andrew Legare, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
